


Always Have Your Back

by tptigger



Category: The Tomorrow People (2013)
Genre: Amusement Park, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, i've never been to coney island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 06:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2339291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen wants to get Luca out of his funk.  Post series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Have Your Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/gifts).



Stephen resisted the urge to dribble the ball as he took it from the storage room to the back step. Sure enough, his little brother hadn't moved: Luca sat with his chin resting on one hand, and Stephen suspected that his eyes were just as unfocused as they'd seemed when he first saw his little brother out of the kitchen window.

"Hey, Luca, think fast." Stephen threw the basketball as he opened the back door.

Luca didn't think fast, or in fact move at all. At the last second, Stephen grabbed the ball with his mind and slowed it down enough that it would only tap Luca on the nose instead of hitting him full speed in the back of the head.

Luca grabbed it, then looked up at Stephen.

Stephen sat down next to him. "If I wasn't telekinetic you'd have one nasty bruise about now."

"Oh, yay, telekinesis saved me a bump on the head. Big deal."

Stephen frowned. "What's wrong?"

"What? You didn't just read my mind and find out?"

"Yeah, 'cause that always works out well," Stephen said sarcastically. "It's a lot better if you talk to me, trust me."

"I get it." Luca rubbed the back of his neck. "Having powers sucks."

"Sometimes," Stephen said. "Not so much now that ULTRA's out of the picture."

Luca shook his head. "By which you mean that they have the side benefit of landing you the pretty girl."

"Cara's not the only TP..."

Luca snickered. "Most of those sewer rats seemed pretty miserable. No families, no school, no jobs..."

"Again, with ULTRA gone, we're working on that."

Luca frowned at him.

"In a couple of years..."

Luca shook his head. "In a couple of years it'll be something else or someone else. These powers are why we lost Dad. Twice. They're also why we lost you... almost lost you."

"You had to leave, Luca."

"If you and Dad had come with us..."

"You get why we couldn't, right?"

"I hope I don't break out. I don't want all this..." Luca trailed off. _If I tell him how hard it sucks will I trigger a depressive episode or something?_

"Don't think so loud," Stephen said. "I couldn't keep you out that time. You do get that all the things that I thought were psychiatric problems were actually my powers kicking in, right? I'm not actually crazy."

Luca blinked. "You get how much it sucks that Mom thought it was safer for you to think you were going crazy, right?"

Stephen threw up his hands. He had to admit that the year leading up to his meeting The Tomorrow People had been one of the worst of his life. And while the year since had been hard, it wasn't all bad. He had cleared his schedule for the day in an attempt to cheer Luca up, but the funk his little brother had gotten himself into was well beyond a few games of one on one in the park. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Let's go to Coney Island," Stephen said.

Luca glared at him. "Who wants to spend two hours on the subway?"

Stephen grinned and held out his hand. "Who said anything about taking the subway?"

Luca grinned, taking Stephen's outstretched hand. For a brief moment, Stephen flashed back to the first time he'd taken Luca to the park without their mom. Luca had jumped off the swings and landed face first.

"No wandering off to eat wood chips, all right?"

Luca laughed. "I totally would've stuck the landing if you hadn't screamed at me in midair!"

Stephen took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"No ditching me for a cute girl and leaving me to find my own way back," Luca said.

That had been when Stephen was in the seventh grade and Luca was in fifth, and Luca had been perfectly capable of walking the three blocks by himself. Luca had been refusing for years and it was high time he'd been pushed into it, but Stephen wasn't going to get into that.

"Are you kidding? Cara would kill me." He teleported.

Luca blinked, taking in his surroundings. "Wow."

Stephen held up his hands, grinning widely. The effect was ruined by his stomach rumbling.

"Should we start with lunch?" Luca asked.

"Yes, please."

* * *

After Stephen had scared the staff by downing two sandwiches, they went to check out the games while their lunch settled.

"Should we try the hoops game?" Stephen suggested.

Luca frowned at him. "No cheating."

Stephen cocked his head at Luca, a sweet smile on his face.

"No letting me win either."

"You were four! I didn't want to deal with the temper tantrum!"

"I was eight and you totally did it just to annoy me."

"For the last time, I did not let you win at Othello that day!"

Luca raised his eyebrows, cocking his head as they reached the booth.

"You're going down, little brother," Stephen said. He passed the carny a ten dollar bill. Stephen reached out with his mind and checked the basket. It was all that Stephen could do not to frown: the basket was rigged to move small distances even though it was supposed to be stationary. Since you had to get nothing but net to win a prize, this probably meant a lot more rebounds and rim shots that kept people from winning. He inspected the mechanism a little more fully: if he broke off that bit _there_.... Yeah. That would do the trick.

Luca poked him. "You first."

Stephen took his shot, and missed, but only by a couple of inches.

The carny tossed Luca the ball. Luca bounced it against his hands a couple of times, trying to get the feel of it, then threw the ball, sending it neatly through the dead center of the basket.

The carney frowned, but tossed Luca the ball again. Luca sank that one too, and the next four. The carny's mouth was a thin line, his eyes drawn, and he practically spat out the words, "You can pick anything on the first shelf or keep playing for a larger prize." He frowned, eyes narrowed and pinned on Luca's.

Luca gulped. "The little rainbow unicorn, please."

Only the mane was rainbow colored, though it wasn't really Luca's taste.

"There's a prize check at the front entrance if you don't want to bring it on the rides. Thank you for playing and have a great day at Luna Park."

Luca accepted the unicorn and took off towards the front entrance at triple speed. Stephen had to jog to catch up.

"Jeez," Luca said as Stephen drew level. "What's his problem?"

"Well, he's probably supposed to use this hidden mechanism to move the basket so that no one wins, and it wasn't working for some strange reason." Stephen ruffled Luca's hair.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Luca asked.

Stephen winked.

"I seem to remember you promising..."

"If I wasn't allowed to cheat, why was he?"

Luca grinned. "Good point.

"So," Stephen said, gesturing at the unicorn, "who is she? And why does she have the taste of a twelve year old?"

Luca chuckled. "Not like that; I just thought Charlotte might like it."

Stephen frowned. "You know she has a crush on you, right?

Luca rolled his eyes. "It's a stuffed animal, not a date. You can say it's from you if you'd rather. I just... she doesn't have a lot."

"Yeah," Stephen said. "I'd better say it's from me, though, otherwise when John gets back, he'll kick your ass," Stephen said.

"And if he doesn't..."

"Well, Cara isn't quite as scary, seeing as she can't kill you, but serious damage will likely ensue. I kind of like having my little brother in one piece, you know?"

Luca shoved him. "Come on, let's check this thing so we can go on the rides."

* * *

"Stephen," Luca said, shifting as they waited in line for the Thunderbolt, "don't look, but those two girls are looking at us."

Stephen started to turn. 

Luca grabbed his arm. "I said don't look. How did you ever survive as a covert operative?"

"Instinct," Stephen said. "What do you want me to do if you don't want me to look?"

"One of them has been staring at me, and I honestly can't tell if it's because she likes me or she thinks I'm weird."

"You're not about to ask me to do what I think you're about to ask me to do are you?"

"Why not?"

"It never goes well. I accidentally picked up the wrong stray thought from Astrid and it nearly ruined our friendship."

Luca frowned. "What stray thought?"

"That she was in love with me."

"You had to read her mind to know that?"

Stephen pulled Luca into a headlock.

"You two knock it off or I'll eject you from the line," shouted the ride attendant.

Stephen let go. "Behave."

"So, girls?"

Stephen realized that he and Luca had swapped places.

"Pink Batman tank top and striped t-shirt?"

"Those are the two," Luca said.

"They're wondering where they know the girls ahead of us from."

"Drat."

"Well, otherwise we'd have had to sneak to the back of the line to go talk to them, so there's that," Stephen said.

Luca raised an eyebrow at him. "Is this an amusement park trip or a PR campaign?"

"A little bit of both," Stephen said honestly.

"It still took a lot of things away from us. Not just us."

"They found Charlotte in an orphanage," Stephen said. "Look how much it's given her. Me, John, Cara, even you..."

"Except maybe not John. And she was locked up..."

"That was ULTRA. They're not a problem anymore."

_It took away Dad, it'll take away you too._

"No," Stephen said firmly. "I have better backup. Know who..."

"Boys!"

Stephen and Luca were so deep in conversation, they hadn't noticed that they had reached the front of the line. They stepped into the coaster, and conversation was impossible.

Once they were off the ride, Stephen steered Luca into a quiet place in the shade. "Know who Dad had for backup?"

"No."

"Psychotic Uncle Jed. Are you going to kill me for my powers?"

"Hell no."

"Then I don't think you need to worry." Stephen draped his arm around Luca, steering him towards the Cyclone. "For whatever it's worth, and I know it wouldn't have been the same, but Russell had strict instructions to do certain things with you if something ever happened to me."

Luca looked at him. "Seriously? He'd do that?"

"It's part of being a Tomorrow Person."

"That part doesn't sound so bad. I might be able to do that part."

"There's a rainbow unicorn in the prize check that says you can."

Luca flushed.

"You ready for the Cyclone, little brother?"

"Bring it!"

"You sure? We don't want a repeat of the first time where we had to duck out of line."

"I was twelve!"

"You were two days short of thirteen and I'd been riding it since I was ten."

Luca glared at him. "Are you trying to say I'm not as brave as you?"

"If the shoe fits!"

Luca shoved him. "Jerk."

Stephen pulled Luca into another headlock, applying noogies. Hard.

"You're only proving my point." Luca laughed. He squirmed free. "Last one in line pays for funnel cakes after."

Stephen counted three before giving chase. He wasn't about to let Luca pay, and it would be easier for Luca to win than to have that argument. He'd won enough for one day.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never been to Luca Park in Coney Island, but I'm sure they don't actually rig their games. I couldn't quite keep Charlotte out of it. Oops.


End file.
